Lab rats
by mostlysadstuck
Summary: Petstuck AU. Some trolls are rescued from a testing lab. Now they need new caring owners. Will post more chapters if requested.
1. Chapter 1

Karkat paced around in his small cage, trying to calm himself down. It wasn't working. He was panicking. He really wished Kankri was here with him. He would always hold and reassure him when he got scared. But Kankri was dead. All because of those monsters ... Terezi and Kanaya's siblings were dead, too. They had practically died while trying to protect Karkat and his friends. It was amazing how Damara had managed to hold on. Even though she could barely walk, she used the last bits of her strength to snarl and claw at the people as much as she could. Karkat turned to the left to look at her through the cage bars. Her head was bowed down. He could tell she was crying. She was mad at herself for not having the strength to stop the scientists from taking Aradia. What was taking so long, anyway? Usually, they just took their blood. It didn't take long, but they would do it too many times in a single day. It left the trolls weak and dizzy. Then, occasionally, other experiments were performed on them. It seemed that was the case with Aradia today. He hoped she was alright.

He glanced up and squinted at Terezi in the neighbouring cage. The room was dark, but he could just make out her sleeping form. She was in the testing room yesterday. It didn't go too well, as always. She had put up a fight, as he could tell from the many teal scratches on her body.

"Terezi?" he whispered.

Her ear flinched. She turned her head slightly, but didn't face him. "Yes?"

Oh, so she wasn't asleep. "Are you okay? You haven't spoken a word since yesterday. What did they do?"

She hesitated for a moment. "They ... Well, they injected something ..."

Injected? That couldn't be good. "But are you okay?"

She shrugged. "I'm dizzy ... I think I just need to rest ..."

That wasn't everything. He could tell. "Terezi," called again. "Terezi, what else? I know you're not telling me everything."

He heard her stifle a sob. "I ... It's just that ..."

Suddenly the door opened. Damara sprang up and growled. She looked quite threatening with her spiked fur and baring teeth and that wild look in her eyes.

The people murmured something. One of them brought up a long cane and pinned Damara to the floor by her throat with it. She was snarling at them, trying to get free. One of the humans opened the cage door and dropped a limp Aradia inside with a thud. Karkat put his front paws on the bars and watched. He let out a breath he was holding when he saw she was breathing. Not dead, just unconscious. The people quickly locked the door and released Damara, who immediately wrapped herself around Aradia and let out some more growls. The door was closed and the trolls were left alone once again. Damara looked over her sister, licked her wounds and cursed herself for not protecting her.

What exactly had they done to deserve this? How long was it before more of them got killed? Why were the people doing this?

He turned back to Terezi. She was still curled up on the floor. He could hear her sobbing. He wanted to go over to her, to hold her, but he was trapped. He looked at Kanaya a few feet away from Terezi. She gave him a reassuring nod, but it didn't help much. He shut his eyes and let the tears flow.

He heard yelling. What now? He stopped crying and listened. He could barely make out some words from the obviously panicked people.

" ... can't find all this ... police ... destroy everything ..."

He knew what those last two words meant. He turned to Kanaya with a panicked face. Her eyes were wide open, ears drawn back. She turned to face Karkat and opened her mouth to speak, but didn't get a chance.

There was an explosion. Then another. The door was thrown off its hinges. There were too many sounds - shouting, sirens, more explosions. There was a fire. Smoke quickly filled the room. Karkat couldn't see. Or breathe. He started to cough. _This is it,_ he thought. _This is how it ends._ He hit the floor and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, what are these, exactly?" Dave asked as he, John, Jade and Sollux followed Rose into the clinic.

"Trolls." Rose led her friends to the kennels. "I never thought I'd actually get to see one, leave alone five."

"Oh, yeah! I've heard of them." John knelt in front of a cage. "They're supposed to be rare or something, right?"

Rose nodded. "Rare and dangerous." She rolled her eyes. "Or so they say."

John frowned. "Wait, you said there were five. But I only see four."

"Yes, there was an adult troll with them, but she unfortunately didn't make it. We worked hard, but couldn't mend her injuries. These guys seem to be healing well, though."

She opened the cage doors, picked up the sleeping trolls and carefully laid them down on the examination table. They were funny little creatures that sort of resembled cats. They had long thin tails with fuzzes of hair at the ends, big ears, and long soft fur with different color hues. The most interesting feature had to be the horns. They seemed to differ among the trolls, one had small nubby horns, two had big and pointy horns, and the last one had curled horns, almost like ones a ram would have. They were all quite heavily bandaged, but didn't appear to be in pain. Rose was a really good veterinarian.

"Oh my God, they're so cute!" Jade leaned in closer and scratched one behind the ears. "They're also really young ... Will they be okay?"

"Only if we can find homes for them. This is actually why I called you here. I was thinking that maybe, if you wanted to ..."

A goofy smile appeared on John's face. "Really, Rose? We get to take them home? Like, as pets?"

She nodded. "If it isn't too much trouble for you, I mean." She petted a pointy horned troll. "I have already offered to take this one in, but people are afraid of them. I'm afraid they'll be put to sleep if we can't get anyone to adopt them."

"No problem! John and I will take one, right?" Jade turned to her brother.

"Right!" His eyes scanned the three trolls. "This will be hard to decide ... Oh, wait. Do you know their sexes?"

"Yes, three of them are female. This one is a male." She pointed at the one with nubby horns.

Jade gently picked him up and placed him in her lap. "We're definitely taking the boy." John smiled. Jade's dog, Bec, had recently passed away. She needed someone like him and this was perfect.

"Well, I'm getting a girl then." Sollux's eyes fell on the one with the ram horns.

"I believe the troll that didn't make it was her sibling," Rose said quietly.

Sollux nodded slowly. He himself had lost his brother just a couple of years ago. He knew what it was like.

"I'll take her."

Dave leaned in to look at the last one. "Hey, looks like it's just you and me." He smiled. "You know, this is actually really cool."

"All right." Rose turned to face the four of them. "Like I already told you, these trolls were rescued from a testing lab. We've examined them and took care of the basic injuries, but they have almost definitely been subjected to some experiments. We don't know if they have any strange symptoms, since they haven't woken up yet. We didn't want to put them through any more testing." She looked down at the one resting in her hands and stroked her soft fur. "If you notice anything unusual, call me."

"I can't believe there are people who actually do things like that ... We'll take good care of them, don't worry," Jade said. "Wait, what do they eat?"

"Trolls are carnivores. They'll probably eat meat when they're older, but for now try some milk and cat food."

The four friends stood, holding the newly acquired trolls close to them.

"The most important thing," Rose placed her troll on the soft cushion in the kennel. "is that you give them lots of love. They could really use some."


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh my God, where did you go?"

John knelt to look under the kitchen table. Nothing. It had only been one day. He couldn't have lost the troll already, could he? He had woken up a couple of hours ago and immediately started panicking. This had been expected, but the troll ran off before John and Jade could catch him. He was now hiding somewhere in the apartment that the siblings shared. John had spent the last fifteen minutes searching for him. He was making slow process, since Jade wasn't able to help. She was passed out on the couch in the living room. Another narcolepsy attack. John swore those only happened at the most inappropriate times.

"Seriously?" He stared at the bag of flour that had been knocked over from the counter, leaving flour all over the kitchen floor. John sighed. Ok, he had to admit, the paw prints that the troll had left in it were incredibly cute. He followed the tracks over to the window. It had been closed the whole time, as was the front door, so there was no way he could've got outside. John had looked all around the apartment. He seriously had no idea where the troll could've gone.

Jade appeared next to him. "Found him yet?"

"No." He ran his hand through his hair. "I don't have the slightest clue ..."

There was a hiss from somewhere above their heads. John's eyes scanned the ceiling. Where did that come from?

Jade pointed at the fridge and laughed. "Found him."

She was right, the troll was sitting on the top of the fridge, watching them both with narrowed eyes.

John put a hand to his head. "Oh, God. How did you get up there?"

Another hiss.

"This is actually kind of funny," Jade giggled. "It's only been a day and we've already managed to fuck up. This has to be a record."

He smiled. "Yeah, you're right. It is funny."

They were quiet for a while, watching the troll hiss at them some more.

Jade broke the silence, "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Well, go get him down!"

"What? Why me?"

"Because," she picked up her phone from the table. "I need to make a call."

John sighed. "Fine. We still have that ladder, right?"

Jade dialed a number. After a couple of rings, the person picked up.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Gamzee, hi. Listen, you have a ..."

There was a crash.

"Hold on." She turned her head to the kitchen. "John, keep it down!"

He struggled with the little beast on the floor. "He has sharp claws!"

"I swear ..." She picked up the phone again. "Gamzee, you have a troll, right?"

"Yeah, sure I motherfucking do."

"Good. Do you think you could come over? Like, right now? And bring the troll with you?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Great! See you soon."

John tapped her on the shoulder. His face was covered in scratches. She could see the troll licking himself in the kitchen.

"I don't think this is going too well," John muttered.

She smirked. "Go get cleaned up. I've just called Gamzee. He'll be over soon."

"That clown? Why?"

"I thought we could use some first hand advice on troll care."

They waited for about half an hour. In that time they cleaned up the kitchen a bit and managed to get the troll in the living room. The doorbell rang and Jade went to open the door. Gamzee stood there, grinning. He was holding something that looked like a ball of fuzz.

"All right. So, you have a troll problem?" he asked in his usual annoying tone. He was sober, but didn't quite act like it.

"Yeah, thanks for coming." She led him to the living room. John was sitting on the couch, eyeing the troll, who was sitting in a corner of the room.

"I'm guessing he isn't trained, then?" Gamzee said as he and Jade sat down next to John.

"No, he was rescued from a testing lab. We've only had him for a day."

"Yeah, that explains it. He's probably just violent 'cause he's stressed, you know. Give it time. I remember I had to be patient with Tavros, here. He's a bit shy."

The little creäture in his hands raised its head. It really was a troll. He had big brown eyes, even bigger bull-like horns on each side of his head, and as John and Jade noticed, only three legs. He looked up at the two and smiled a bit.

"H-hello," he said in a small voice.

"Whoa, he can talk?" John said with wide eyes.

Gamzee laughed. "Why couldn't he? Doesn't yours talk?"

"Well, no. At least we've never heard him." Jade looked at him, still pouting in the corner.

"Tav, do them both a favor and go talk to him." Gamzee gently placed him on the floor. "He's probably afraid of humans, but I bet he'd talk to a troll."

Tavros nodded and slowly limped to the other troll.

"Hey," he started.

"Get away from me. You're with them," he hissed without looking at him.

Tavros turned to the three people, who couldn't really hear their conversation, but were observing the two trolls anyway.

"Them? What do you mean?"

"The humans. You shouldn't trust them. I'm only telling you this because our kind should stick together."

Tavros sat down. "Uh ... This is going to sound really insensitive, but ... Why shouldn't I trust them?"

The troll turned his head slightly to look Tavros in the eyes. "Do you have any idea what they're capable of?"

"Oh, sure. Gamzee, uh, the one I live with, he gives me food, shelter, sometimes he plays with me ..."

"No, that's not what I meant!" He sighed. "Look, I don't think you understand my situation. Why don't you just tell them that I don't want to be here? My life sucks so far, I've lost all my friends, I don't even know why I'm here."

There was an awkward silence.

"I'm sorry. I didn't, uh, know ..." Tavros scratched his head. " I'll leave you alone, but just one more thing. I'm Tavros. What's your name?"

The troll lay down and closed his eyes. "I'm Karkat."


	4. Chapter 4

Sollux gently ran his hand through the soft fur on his troll's back. He wished she'd wake up soon. But at least he got the chance to get a better look at her now, while she was resting on his chest. She was so small ... They all were. It seemed unthinkable to Sollux that people would experiment on any animal, really. But it was extra cruel this time, because these guys were only kids. They shouldn't have been put through this. And as if the whole experience wasn't bad enough already, according to Rose, they sustained some pretty nasty burns shortly before they were rescued. The people had tried to blow everything up to destroy any evidence. Including the test subjects. Sollux and his friends had each been given some medicine and gauze at the clinic. They all knew how to take care of basic wounds and burns, so it wasn't a problem to regularly change the bandages. He was glad to see the burns were healing well. It would just take some time, but he had plenty of that. He was thinking about calling John or Dave and asking how their trolls were doing, but then he felt her stir. She slowly opened her eyes (bright yellow with dark red irises, he noticed), and then seemed to realize what had happened. Her head darted around frantically, trying to find her bearings. She finally noticed Sollux in front of her and tried to run. Except she couldn't. She only managed to get off his chest and curl up on the couch.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." He sat up. She was watching him with wide scared eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you. Promise."

He wasn't sure if she could even understand him, especially with that lisp, but she seemed to be calming down.

"I'm sorry that some people treated you so badly, but I'm not like them." He carefully put his hands around her, which she didn't resist, and lifted her unto his lap. "I'll help you. Don't worry."

Her tensed muscles relaxed as he stroked her fur. She looked around once more, then at him with big questioning eyes.

"Oh, yeah. That's right ..." He remembered how his mother had told him about his brother. "Your sister ..." Her ears perked up. "She's gone to explore the stars."

It was a strange metaphor. He himself didn't quite understand it either at first. But as the years went by, he came to love it. He would watch the stars on many a night, whenever the skies were clear. He would find the Gemini constellation, that represented both his and Mituna's Zodiac sign, and pretend to see him there. Wandering around, just having fun. Not having to worry about life here on Earth.

The troll seemed to get it. She curled up once again and let out some whimpers, which was probably how trolls cried. Sollux leaned back on the cushions, troll on his chest, and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay, it's okay ..." he kept whispering. "I know what it's like, trust me. But it gets better. This right here is the worst part." People would call it weird, talking to an animal, but he didn't care. It felt right.

The crying turned into small sniffles. "There you go. It's going to be okay." He waited a couple of minutes for her to calm down completely. "I'll need to give you a name."

She murmured something. Sollux smiled. "What was that?" he asked playfully.

"Aradia," she said quietly. "My name is Aradia."

He blinked a couple of times, just staring at her. He hadn't expected her to answer his question. "I ... I didn't know trolls could talk."

She looked up at him. "I didn't know there were good humans."

He smiled. "This is incredible."

She snuggled closer to his chest. "Please don't take me back. I don't want to go back."

"Never." He wasn't going to let any more of those monsters get a hold of her. "You don't have to worry. You're safe here with me."

She started to smile, but then froze. She started to tense up again. Eyes wide, ears drawn back.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Her eyes wandered across the room. "W-why are they here? What are they?" she muttered.

Sollux glanced around. What was she talking about? They were alone in the apartment, except for some mice, maybe. "What do you mean? I don't ..."

She shut her eyes and pressed her face into his shirt. "W-what do they want?" Her breathing sped up to the point of panic. He felt her claws sink into his skin.

All right, something was definitely wrong. Sollux jumped off the couch and ran to the front door, not even bothering to put on a cloak, despite the cold weather outside. He held Aradia, who was now muttering incomprehensible words, close to him. Luckily, the clinic wasn't far from his apartment building.

"Hold on, AA," he said as he ran. "I'll get you help."


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, sis. How's your troll doing?"

"Dave, I can't really talk right now. I have two dogs here that need distemper shots."

"Yeah, yeah, I know you're at work, but just a quick chat, okay?"

He heard Rose sigh through the receiver. "Fine. Well, since you asked, she's doing great. I'm teaching her how to read."

"Read? Rose, she's a troll."

"So? I don't see why they couldn't indulge in human activities such as reading and writing. They're very intelligent, you know?"

He snorted. "Maybe yours."

"What do you mean?"

"Okay, the first thing mine did when she woke up was run headfirst into a wall. That's actually all she's been doing. I'm trying to get her to stop before she bashes her skull open."

"Well, to be honest, I would expect that from someone who is blind."

"Hold up. She's blind? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought it was obvious. Haven't you seen her eyes?"

"Yeah, totally red. But I thought that was normal. Man, now I feel like an idiot for calling her dumb."

"I'm sure she'll forgive you. Talk to her about it. It's weird she hasn't told you herself."

"Told me herself? Don't tell me trolls can talk."

There was a period of silence.

"Rose, can trolls talk?"

"You're learning. Slowly, but you're learning. Yes, they can talk."

Dave put the phone away from his face and looked at the troll, who was rubbing her forehead with a front paw.

"You didn't tell me you could talk. Or that you were blind."

"You didn't ask," she muttered.

"Well, would you look at that. I'm being sassed by a troll."

That caused her to giggle.

"Rose, you still there? Anything else I should know about?"

"No, I think that's ..." Her voice trailed off.

"Rose?"

"Sorry, I have to go. Sollux is here and I think something may be wrong. I'll call you back, okay?"

She ended the call before Dave could respond. He sighed and threw the phone on the couch.

He heard another thud. "Ow!"

"Would you stop doing that? Come here." He picked the troll up.

"I can't really help it." She rested her head on his arm.

"You could've told me about this before." He sat down on the couch. "Even if I didn't ask," he added.

She let out a breath. "I know. I was just ..." She whimpered. "I don't know."

"I'm guessing you weren't born like this?"

She shook her head and hissed. "_They_ did this. They put something inside me." She shuddered. "Next thing I knew my eyes were on fire. Then I couldn't see."

"It's okay. I'll help you get used to it."

Her head perked up. "Really?"

"Yeah. What else would I do?"

"Well ..." She curled up in his arms. "I didn't want to tell you, because ... because then you would know I'm broken. Nobody wants a broken troll."

"Are you kidding?" He wiped the tears from her bright red eyes. "This doesn't make you broken. This is proof that I made the right choice when I decided to take you home. You have already proven to me that you're the toughest troll in the world. You're not gonna let this small thing stop you and I know it."

She looked up at him, even though she couldn't see him. "You really mean it?"

"Yes, I really mean it. You're stuck here with me, whether you like it or not."

She gave him a wide smile, showing her sharp teeth, and got up on her hind legs to lick his face. "Thank you, Dave."

He wiped away the saliva. "Oh, that reminds me. You need a name."

"Already ahead of you. I'm Terezi."

"Huh. I was thinking Hella Jeff, but I like that one even better."

She started to snicker. "You're weird. I like you."

Suddenly the phone rang, causing Terezi's fur to stand on its end.

"It's okay." Dave stroked her back to calm her down. Weird. He could've sworn her fur was softer the previous day. Maybe he needed to groom it every day? He made a note to himself to buy a brush next time he went out.

He picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, I'm back. Sorry about cutting you off before."

He had almost forgotten about Rose. "It's cool. You said something about Sollux? Is everything okay?"

She exhaled. "Honestly, I don't know. Something is going on with his troll. I've just sent some blood samples to the lab. We'll see what's wrong in a couple of days, hopefully."

Those must've been the kind of weird symptoms Rose had in mind when she gave them the trolls. Dave opened his mouth to speak, but Terezi jumped up in front of his face.

"Wait, what troll? Who's Sollux?"

"He's a friend. There were four of you, right?" She nodded. "Well, I got to take you home and my friends got your friends."

"So, they're safe? They're okay?"

"Yes, calm down. Rose here is an animal doctor. She's the one who took care of your injuries. You can ask her about your friends."

He positioned the phone in front of her. "Go ahead and try talking."

"Hello?"

"Hello, you must be Dave's troll, am I right?"

"My name is Terezi. You mentioned something about a troll? And ... problems? Which troll?"

"Hold on. Kanaya, what did you say her name was? Right, thank you. Aradia."

"Aradia? She ... she was in the testing room ... What did they do?" She was muttering more to herself than Rose. "And ... and Kanaya? She's with you, right?"

"Yes, she's right here. She's doing well, don't worry. And I'm sure Aradia will be alright, too."

"And Karkat? Where is he?"

"I'm guessing that's the male. I actually haven't heard about him yet. But I'm sure John and Jade would have called me if something was wrong."

"That's great. Thank you." She was crying again. Probably from relief. "Thank you so much."

Dave could almost see Rose smiling as she spoke. "Don't mention it. Everything will be alright. Trust me."

Terezi seemed satisfied with that. She lay back down on Dave's lap and closed her eyes. She must've been tired, because she was asleep in just a couple of seconds.

Dave brought the phone back up to his ear. "Hey, Rose, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Terezi said they injected something. Back at the lab."

"Must be the cause of her blindness."

"Yeah, definitely. But I was just wondering ..." He glanced down at the sleeping troll. "Do you think it'll cause any more problems? Like with Sollux's troll?"

"I don't know. I don't want to bother her with any more needles unless absolutely necessary ... If you notice anything unusual, anything at all, bring her here. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Rose."


	6. Chapter 6

Karkat looked around to make sure no one was watching him, then took a bite of the food that had been placed in front of him. He couldn't help it, he was so hungry. And tired. Nightmares kept him awake. He'd been avoiding the humans as best as he could. He didn't care if Tavros had decided to trust them. He'd said they were different. That they were here to help them. Yeah, right. They were all a part of the same species. They were all the same. Karkat didn't know what to do. He didn't want to think about his friends, who were surely dead by now. If they weren't, they'd be here with him, right? He'd once thought about running away to look for them, but lost all hope when he stared out of the window. They were everywhere! Humans, not trolls. It was like he was trapped in a cage. And he knew all too well what that was like.

A thud shook him out of his thoughts. He felt his fur stand on end. This was a thing that happened on instinct whenever he got scared. He knew it was supposed to make him look more threatening to predators, but it would stay that way for several minutes, making him feel like an inflated balloon. Frankly, it annoyed him. He tried to smooth it out a bit with his tongue. He gave up when he saw it wasn't working and peeked around the corner to see what had made the sound. He saw the guy, John, (he'd been listening to their conversations long enough to learn their names) make his way to the living room with Jade in his arms, all the while muttering apologies. Karkat figured she must've collapsed or something. He'd never seen it happen to a human. But he was more interested into the way John had reacted to it. He was sure he had never seen a human care so much about the well-being of someone else. He carefully followed him into the living room and watched him as he gently placed the girl on the couch. He then sat down himself and let out a breath. He paid no attention to Karkat as he walked closer to him. He seemed to be lost in thought. He flinched when Karkat jumped on his lap.

"Oh, hey there ..."

Karkat didn't know what he was doing and decided that he didn't care. Sometimes he did stuff on instinct. And instinct was never wrong. He nodded toward Jade. "Is ... is she alright?"

John blinked a couple of times, probably too surprised to speak. Karkat realized this was the first time he'd ever spoken to either of them. But he couldn't take it back now. His worry had won over his stubbornness.

John cleared his throat. "Oh, uh, yeah," he managed. " She's alright. This happens from time to time. It's a condition."

"It makes her fall asleep?"

"Yeah, exactly that. It's been like this since we were little." He frowned. "I'm supposed to be watching over her, but sometimes ... well, sometimes I'm too late to catch her."

Karkat blinked. "You really care about her," he said in a small voice.

John looked at him like he just said something absolutely ridiculous. "Are you kidding? Of course I care about her. She's my sister, after all."

That caused Karkat to finally look John in the eyes. "She's your sister?" he slowly asked.

"Yeah, uh ..." John scratched his head. "That means that we have the same parents and ..."

"I know what that means!" Karkat sometimes snapped, even if he didn't mean to. He reminded himself to speak in a more hushed voice. "I have ..." He shut his eyes. "I _had_ a brother."

"Oh," John said quietly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Karkat looked at him again to make sure he wasn't joking. He was sorry? But he wasn't the one who had killed Kankri. Was he apologizing in the name of his species? Karkat felt tears streaming down his face. He couldn't hold it in anymore.

John pulled him into a hug, which he didn't resist. "Hey, it's okay," he kept repeating. "It's okay."

"No, it's not," he said between the sobs. "I miss him and my friends and nothing is right."

John stroked his fur, which helped him calm down. No one had ever done that before.

"I can't bring back your brother," John started quietly. "But if you want to see your friends, we can arrange something."

Karkat stopped crying. He looked up at John. "They ... they're alive?"

"As far as I know, yes. They're staying at our friends' places. I'll call around and ask if they're free to hang out this week."

That caused Karkat to do something he'd probably never done before. He smiled.

Both he and John turned their heads. Jade groaned again and brought a hand up to her head. She opened her eyes. "Did I hit my head or something?"

John smiled. "See? Perfectly fine."

Karkat smiled widely again and curled up on Jade's chest.

"Hey, Karkat." He could hear the surprise in her voice. He decided he should give these two a chance. He was safe with them. He remembered how tired he was. He was finally able to get some sleep. Nightmares wouldn't bug him tonight.

Jade scratched the sleeping troll behind the ears. She turned to her brother. "What happened to him?"

John laughed. "Like Gamzee said, give him some time." He dialed a number on his phone.

"Who are you calling?"

"Everyone. We need to bring the trolls back together."


	7. Chapter 7

She struggled to get up and run, but a pair of cold hands had pinned her to the even colder table. She heard murmuring from the people, but couldn't quite make out the words. Tears rolled down her face as she thought about Damara. Would she ever see her again? Probably not. She would probably die here. She wasn't as strong as Terezi, who had managed to resist a lot more than her, but when the people brought her back from the testing room she was unconscious and obviously in pain. It had hurt the trolls, especially Karkat, because they couldn't get to her and help. Latula wasn't there for her anymore. Not for a long time now. Point was, if Terezi had barely survived it, how could Aradia? She shut her eyes as one of the humans approached her with a needle.

Aradia woke up with a start. Her eyes flew open, which caused a searing pain to shoot through her head, so she immediately shut them again. Was she still in the lab? She was still on the table, but it wasn't as cold or hard. She was still alive. She wasn't sure whether that was a blessing or a curse. She felt something warm and soft brush against her. It didn't take her long to realize it was a troll.

"Damara?" she said quietly.

"No, just me, I'm afraid."

The voice was soft, full of comfort. It helped her relax. She slowly made another attempt of opening her eyes. The troll, fur neatly groomed, her stomach covered by a bandage, was looking at her with obvious concern showing in her jade green eyes. She'd always had a kind of motherly appearance, possibly because she was the oldest, though not by much. It didn't matter.

Aradia heaved a sigh of relief. "Kanaya."

She pushed herself into a sitting position, but she was still light-headed. Kanaya caught her when she stumbled.

"Careful,"she said as steadied her friend, looking her over. "Rose had to give you something to calm you down. She said you might feel dizzy for a little while."

"Rose?" Aradia muttered.

"The human I live with. She's great, really. She's also the one who took care of us all in the first place."

Memories of recent events came flooding back to Aradia. They were trapped, then pain, rescue, a human, Damara, stars. The thoughts pounded against her skull. She tried to stay focused.

"Kanaya," she started. "Kanaya, are the others okay? Are they ..."

"Shh, it's okay. Everyone is fine." She seemed to consider the next words. "I am very sorry about Damara," she said quietly, as if reading Aradia's thoughts.

She bowed her head. She remembered what the human had told her about the stars. She hoped Damara really was there. That she wasn't in pain for once in her life.

"It's okay. She's ..." She shook her head slightly. There was a buzzing noise. It had been there ever since she woke up and it was driving her crazy. It almost sounded like ... well, whispering.

Kanaya lowered her head to look her in the eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just ..." She could think a bit clearer now. Something had happened. Why was she here? Last thing she remembered were trolls and humans and talking, so much talking ... She looked up at Kanaya. "What happened?"

"I was hoping you could tell me." She gave her a sad smile. "You were muttering something, but I couldn't quite make out what."

"I ... I saw something. Someone. A lot of them, actually. I don't know ..."

They both turned their heads as the door opened. A human, probably Rose, walked in. She looked at the trolls and smiled.

"Oh, good. You're awake. How are you feeling?"

Aradia blinked. This was the second human who seemed to be concerned about her well-being. "I'm okay," she said quietly. "Thank you."

"That's good to hear. Hold on, I'll go get Sollux." She exited through another door at the end of the room.

Sollux? Oh, probably the human she had been with before. The one with the lisp and weirdly colored eyes - one brown, one blue. Aradia was sure she'd never seen anything like it, but maybe it was normal for humans?

Kanaya leaned closer to her. "He's been waiting outside the door the entire time," she whispered.

"He has?"

She nodded. "Believe me, these are different. They really do care. And they're here to help us."

Sollux hurried past Rose as soon as she opened the door. He knelt at the table.

He was trying to stay calm, but Aradia could detect the slight panic in his eyes as he looked her over. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." She wrapped her arms around his neck when he pulled her into a hug. "I'm okay."

"You scared me," he breathed. "What even happened?"

She closed her eyes. "I'll tell you later," she whispered. She really didn't want to talk about it right now and besides, she still wasn't completely sure what had happened herself.

He didn't seem too satisfied with the answer, but didn't ask any more questions and just stroked her back instead. Rose gave him a wink.

"I'll call you when we get the results."

"Thanks. For everything."

Aradia's ear flinched as Sollux pulled the ringing phone from his pocket.

"Hey," he spoke. "Yeah. Sure, that's a great idea. I don't know, anytime this week, I guess. Hold on, she's here with me." He turned to Rose. "When do you get off work?"

"At six. Three on Fridays. Why?"

"John wants us all to meet up at the park with the trolls."

Kanaya's eyes lit up. "Karkat and Terezi?" She looked at Rose expectantly.

She smiled. "Friday afternoon sounds good."

Sollux brought the phone back up to his ear. "We'll see you there on Friday."


	8. Chapter 8

People stared as they walked by, some took pictures, children smiled, adults just tilted their heads and wondered what strange breeds of cats the group of teenagers had brought to the park. And the trolls didn't care about any of them.

"Karkat, I can't breathe," Kanaya laughed.

He still didn't let go of her and Aradia. They were here. They were here and alive and well. He gave them one last squeeze before letting go.

"Sorry." His smile faded. He turned to Aradia. "I'm guessing Damara didn't ..."

She shook her head. "It's probably for the best, though. She isn't in pain anymore, right?"

"Yeah. Her and Porrim and Latula and Kankri." It was a depressing thought, but death was probably the best thing to ever happen to them. For most people, trolls, and other creatures, death was something horrible that ended a beautiful life. Karkat couldn't say that he hadn't wished for it at least once in his pathetic life. He'd heard Kankri beg for it once. It really shook him up. For him and his friends and their siblings, death meant relief. Well, it used to. Now life seemed to be getting better. Karkat was beginning to fear death for the first time. And he kind of liked it.

"I wonder what Kankri's doing now," he thought out loud. When Karkat was really young, Kankri would often tell him about the afterlife and heaven and other things Karkat couldn't really remember. Or understand. But he liked the stories anyway. He still sometimes thought about them. They helped him relax.

He shrugged. "Whatever it is, I hope he's happy."

"He is," Aradia muttered.

He tilted his head. "How do you know?"

She hesitated for a moment, as if deciding whether to trust him or not.

"Because he's right there," she nodded to Karkat's left.

He knew it was stupid, but he turned his head to the side anyway. There was nothing there.

"Come on, don't joke about this," he said. But she didn't look like she was joking.

She stared at the ground. "I'm not."

Kanaya took a step forward. "The voices?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah, I think I've mostly figured it out."

It seemed that Karkat was the only one who had absolutely no idea what was going on. "Wait, what voices? What are you talking about?"

Aradia wasn't going to talk, so Kanaya turned to Karkat. "Remember how Terezi and her were taken to the testing room in those last few days before our rescue?" she whispered. He nodded. How could he forget? "Well, you know how they both got injected with something? Nobody knew what the stuff did at the time, but I think it's becoming clear now."

"So," he turned to Aradia, whose eyes were still fixed on the ground. "you can hear ghosts?"

"Sort of. I can see them better than I can hear them, actually. They're whispering."

Karkat blinked. "But, but Kankri is here? Like, right here? Next to me?"

"Yes, he's-" she glanced up. "Oh, wait. He's gone now. They move fast, you know. But yes, he was here."

So Kankri was still around. Even if Karkat couldn't see him. He didn't know how he should feel about that. "How did he look? I mean, you said he was happy, right?"

She nodded. "Yes, he was smiling. At you."

That was all he needed to hear. That Kankri was okay. That he was happy.

He thought for a moment. Was that what the humans had been trying to do with them? Make them develop some weird abilities? And Terezi had got injected, too. Could she see ghosts as well? Or something else? Where was she, anyway?

"Do you think Terezi is okay?" he asked.

"You can ask her," Kanaya said.

He turned around. A human, probably the one Terezi lived with, made his way to the bench, where John, Jade and Rose were sitting, exchanged some words with them, then walked over to the trolls and carefully set Terezi on the ground. It was weird that he'd been carrying her. Karkat had been brought here on a leash, and just because John had said that it was one of the rules here.

He ran over to her. Her ears perked up, but she kept her head bowed down. He pulled her into a hug.

"Karkat?" she murmured.

"God, Terezi, I was so worried. Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine." She sure didn't sound like it. "Are the others here?"

"Yes, they're right over there. Can't you see them?"

She kept quiet. Karkat swore he could hear her heart pounding in her chest.

"Terezi?"

She slowly pulled away from him. She still wouldn't look up.

"Terezi, is everything-"

She shook her head. "I though I'd never see you again," she whispered. "And I was right."

He opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but he froze as she finally lifted her head. Her eyes, now bright red, bore into him. He waved a paw in front of her.

"Terezi, can you ... can you see?"

"No," she said a bit louder. "No, I can't. I can't see the grass or Dave or ..." He watched as tears streamed from her eyes. "Or you."

He hugged her tightly again. So that's what that stuff did to her. Made her blind. Karkat gritted his teeth. If he ever found those humans, he was going to make them pay for this. Aradia and Kanaya made their way to their friends and put their paws around them. They remained like this for a while. People were still staring. They seemed to have come to the conclusion that those creatures weren't cats after all. They stood around the group, trying to determine what they were. Karkat didn't care about any of them stare. He had more important matters to address.

* * *

**Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry, got a bit of writer's block on this story. :/ I'll try to update faster. I finish school in exactly a week, so there should be more updates then. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

Kanaya watched from her spot on the desk as Rose worked. She was currently speaking to a man, probably instructing him how to care for his newly adopted dog. The clinic offered treatment to injured or sick animals, but also enabled abandoned animals to find new homes. It was such a wonderful idea, Kanaya thought. After all, everyone deserved a second chance at a good life. And she was definitely enjoying hers here with Rose. She stayed with her at the clinic for most of the day five times a week, and then got to just relax at her house for the remaining two days. Rose had told her she was still in training, so she didn't have to work 24/7. Which was nice. In the free time, she would teach Kanaya how to read, explained what a week was, told her about human culture, and so many other things. There was so much to learn, it made the troll sad to think she could have completely missed it all if she had died in that laboratory. She hoped the others were enjoying spending time with their caretakers, too. The last time they'd met, they all said the humans were great. And they sure seemed that way.

And the people who came to the clinic seemed to take a big interest in trolls all of a sudden. Trolls were always thought to be these aggressive beasts that you should just stay away from, but when they saw one peacefully resting on the desk or in Rose's arms, they had to inquire about the creäture. They just needed more information, is all. Ignorance could make people really terrifying, while knowledge provided happiness and satisfaction. Well, it was actually the adults who needed the information. The children seemed to instinctively know that Kanaya would do them no harm. The brave ones even stepped up to pet her. She liked the young ones. They were fun, always smiling. She allowed herself to wonder for just a minute, if perhaps she could have children of her own one day. Of course, she would have to find a mate, which didn't look so promising, what with trolls being so rare. She decided not to think about it too much. For now she just had to focus on the present and not worry about the future.

Rose, who had left the room earlier to talk to a coworker, now stepped back inside and closed the door with a sigh. She walked up to the desk and took Kanaya in her arms. The troll didn't even have to look at her face to know something was bothering her.

"What's wrong?"

She stayed quiet for a minute, just holding her troll close.

"They couldn't find the people from the testing lab," she finally said in a hushed voice. "They couldn't find any evidence that could be used against them, either. Everything was destroyed." She shut her eyes. "Now we can't even make them pay for what they did."

Kanaya wasn't that into justice, to be honest. That was Terezi. If she remembered correctly, those were the exact words Terezi had kept whispering back at the lab - "make them pay."

"That's alright," she said as she rested her head on Rose's shoulder. "That's in the past. We're all safe and away from them now and that's all that matters."

Rose gave her a small smile. "Still, it just doesn't seem fair, does it?"

Kanaya didn't answer. Fair or not, she couldn't dwell on that. She'd already decided it wasn't worth her time.

Speaking of which, according to the clock on the wall, it was getting late. Kanaya still didn't quite understand how that worked. Six o' clock was "late", but only during this colder time of the year, when the sun set faster. Then, during the warm time, six o' clock was still "early". Or something like that. Whatever. It meant it was time to go home. Rose was just in the middle of taking off her white coat, when the phone rang. For some reason, it caused every hair on Kanaya's back to stand on its end.

* * *

Dave didn't know what to do. It was barely six o' clock, but Terezi had already curled up in her little bed next to his. Which was weird on multiple levels, because 1. It was early and she usually liked to stay up late; 2. She rarely slept in her own bed, and instead jumped up to sleep with Dave, and 3. She wasn't asleep. She was just turning on the cushions while making these weird grunting noises. He knelt down next to her.

"Terezi, if you-"

Before he could even finish the sentence, she interrupted him with a rather quiet, "I'm fine."

"Yeah, I don't think you are," he said while reaching out to stroke her back. He flinched a bit when his hand made contact with the fur. It wasn't soft anymore at this point, but hard and spiky instead. Almost like... scales. John and Jade had visited a couple of days ago with Karkat. The trolls didn't interact that much, just talked a bit. Then Terezi fell asleep. She did that more and more nowadays. But didn't seem to be getting any rest. Jade had said that trolls differed among one another. They had different blood colors, body temperatures, some even had gills, according to the book Jade had read. So maybe the spiky fur and oversleeping were normal? It was a pain, not knowing much about trolls. Of course, most people were too afraid of them to try to learn more about them.

"I told you," Terezi started again. "I'm fine."

She always said that. Whenever Dave offered to call Rose and ask for help, she shook her head and told him she didn't need help. That she was "fine". But Dave was just getting more and more worried. He didn't want to force her to do something she didn't want to, but he also didn't want to see her in pain. It kind of tore him in half.

"Maybe we could just ask Rose about her opinion on-"

"No." She seemed to be straining more and more to speak, her voice weak and quivery. She stood up shakily and stared at him with those bright red eyes. "I'm..." Her voice broke at that point. She had just enough energy left to take a few steps away from him, then throw up the small amount of food he'd managed to get into her earlier. Dave's heart clenched when he noticed a teal tint to the vomit. Was that blood? That was the last straw. He couldn't just sit still while she suffered.

"You are so not fine," he muttered while picking her up and running to the door. She was making some new sounds now, which sounded like a combination of crying and screaming. He held her close, trying to calm her down as he took his cellphone into a shaking hand and dialed Rose's number. He explained what was happening the best he could. She told him to hurry up and bring her to the clinic. The problem was, he didn't live that close to the clinic. And his car was still at the repair shop. The first number on his contact list was Sollux's. He didn't live that close, either, but he did have a car. He said he'd be right there and to hold on. Then hung up. Dave could do nothing but wait during that awful period of time. He stood outside his apartment building with the troll squirming in his arms. He felt her claws sink into his shoulder. She kept muttering something. It may have been, "It hurts, it hurts." He just held her close while tears streamed down his face.

* * *

Aradia shuddered as the cold form of a spirit passed right through her. It was that of some small beast (a cat maybe?). It jumped off the balcony, without a worry in the world. It had probably landed on another balcony bellow, or not, it didn't really matter. The thing couldn't have died twice. Aradia was mostly used to this now. Spirits were everywhere, but they didn't pay much attention to her. They usually took forms of rodents, birds or cats. Nothing that special. She hadn't seen any trolls since Kankri in the park. He'd probably just come to say goodbye to Karkat. Which was really nice, now that she thought about it. Visiting a friend or family member even though they can't acknowledge your presence. Sollux had once asked her if she maybe saw a boy just like him, but with longer and curlier hair around. She'd taken a look around, then shook her head. Sollux had just smiled and said that was good. That meant that his brother had moved on. That made her feel a bit better, since it explained why Damara hadn't made an appearance yet. Still, she kind of wanted to see her sister one last time.

"There is really no need for tears."

The voice startled her. It wasn't Sollux's. It was feminine and thick with the accent that was all too familiar to her. She raised her head. Damara smiled at her.

"See? It's alright."

Her mouth didn't move when she spoke, and her voice didn't appear to be coming directly from her. But it was still there. Aradia raised a paw, but it went right through Damara. She was here. She was still dead, but she was here. Aradia tried to speak, but couldn't form the words, so her sister just continued.

"The stars are lovely. Much better than the laboratory." She looked up, than back down. "Now, pull yourself together. You've been staring at spirits for the past few days, but you have a life here."

She wanted to speak, but at that moment Sollux stormed inside, cursing under his breath, and started filling up a bottle with water. He raised his head for a second to look at Aradia. He didn't see the ghost that was with her, obviously.

"Dave just called. Something's wrong with his troll. I have to drive him to the clinic. Wait here, I'll be right back." His lisp made it almost impossible to understand him, but she managed.

She felt her heart sink. Something was wrong with Terezi.

Her voice suddenly came back. "Wait! I'm coming with you!"

She turned her head to say goodbye to Damara, but she was gone. That was the deal with ghosts. One moment they were there, then they were gone. But she didn't care anymore. Damara was right. She couldn't afford to stare at spirits all day while her friends needed her here.


End file.
